After spending 5 years of plucking ducks under my father's duck hunting apprenticeship program I learned one thing...I hate plucking ducks.

However, if I shoot a few nice big birds (Mall, Sprig) and want to make a special dinner I wll pluck em out.

Bird prep: Pluck em out to the elbow and 2" up the neck. Make 2" slit up from the bottom of the neck up. Stick your index finger in the incision and pull out the quacker. Then slide your index finger back and place it on the back bone between the shoulders. Take your thumb and place on the opposite side of the back bone from your index finger. Apply pressure until the back/neck bone breaks. Slide the bone up and slice off the neck at the base.

Chop the wings and footsies off. Make an incision at the base of the breast bone, with one hand on the legs, take the other hand lift up the breast plate, pull the guts back and cut off the guts along with the butt. Rinse with cold water and pat dry.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Chop up the following Celery, Red Onion, and Green Apples (Pippen) in to dice size bits, mix together and set aside.

Take a broiler pan and line the bottom with baking soda to absorb the grease.

Take the bird and rub the outside thoroughly with Olive Oil and splash a little inside the birds too.

Season light to medium inside and out with Garlic Pepper and Paprika.

Take the mix of chopped Celery, Red Onion, and apple and stuff the chest cavity.

Pop the cork on a bottle of Cabernet so it can breathe.

A regular broiler pan will hold 3-4 Large Birds

26-28 minutes depending on your oven or until the skin is slightly burned. If you aren't sure take a toothpick and poke the breast in to the bone. If it immediately comes out dark red...they're not ready.

If they juice comes out clear, immediately followed by a light red they're ready.

Discard the stuffing, cut out the back bone, split the breast , cut the shoulders and thigh/legs. My wife and younger kids love duck as long as they get breast meat. I generally will serve only the breast meat so I can raid the fridge later to chew on the wings and thighs.

I like my birds medium to medium rare. (bloodier the better)

This same recipe works well on breasted birds too. Same deal olive oil, Garlic Pepper/Paprika broiler pan, 500 degrees

Large Birds 22-23 minutes
Medium 18 minutes
Teal/Woodies 12-minutes

Or throw'em on the BBQ, just remember cook them fast and hot, so they don't dry out.

If anybody tries this recipe out, post up and let me know what you think.